Now, four months later, Burnett is opening up about the difficult circumstances which led to his exit. "I love working with Callie," Burnett told The Hollywood Reporter. "I have no problem working with Callie. I have a problem when people don't treat Callie right. I like to see artists treated with tremendous respect, and I like the executives to say, 'How can I help you do what you do?' That's what I do."

Burnett specifically says it was the conflicting visions people had about what the show was really about that led to other differences in opinion. "Some people were making a drama about real musicians' lives, and some were making a soap opera, so there was that confusion," he said. "It was a knockdown, bloody, drag-out fight, every episode. You remember that show The Prisoner? If I were to tell you the truth, you'd think I was insane."

Burnett's right-hand man Buddy Miller has since stepped into the executive music producer role for Nashville. Burnett has bounced back since leaving the series. He serves as the executive music producer on the upcoming film Inside Llewyn Davis, which follows a folk singer-songwriter, and comes from the Coen brothers, with whom Burnett worked with on O Brother, Where Art Thou?